" Ditch's Stout " Master Class .....

[WalesAles]

Nice head on your pint there Tazzy, Did you prime the barrel? If so, how much and with what? I didn`t prime my barrel, it came out as flat as a witch`s tit but still tasted lovely. I primed four bottles but they came out tasting too sweet. Didn`t like it at all!
WA

[tazzymutt]

Nice head on your pint there Tazzy, Did you prime the barrel? If so, how much and with what? I didn`t prime my barrel, it came out as flat as a witch`s tit but still tasted lovely. I primed four bottles but they came out tasting too sweet. Didn`t like it at all!
WA

Yes, I decided to break from the true way and lightly prime the barrel, just to produce a blanket of CO2 and keep the beer fresh because I do not expect to drink this particularly quickly. I used 60g of raw cane sugar dissolved in about half a litre of beer and had it inside in the warm for a week. The pictured was after the barrel had been out in the cooler garage store for an hour or two.

I had a sneaky taster when transferring the brew to the barrel and it was quite sweet. I was not really convinced it had finished despite the hydro saying nothing was changing any more. However, I decided to keep faith and pushed on and have to say the the test pint was rather good. It is still a bit sweeter than most commercial stouts I've tried but not much and I have tried some that are sweeter. There is a dark, slightly burnt coffee taste, but it is quite subtle and does not overpower the other flavours in the beer. I suspect that the flavour will continue to develop for a while yet so will probably have a half every week or so for a little while to see how it develops; so far I am very happy with this one and it risks becoming a favourite.

Happy brewing,


Ian.

[WalesAles]

Thanks for the reply Tazzy,
Just read your post from March 20th, all I needed to know was in there. Please keep us posted on the sweetness of this brew as it progresses. You will probably drink it all in about a week!
WA

[tazzymutt]

Thanks for the reply Tazzy,
You will probably drink it all in about a week!

No chance of that; I've just given up alcohol for ever.

I went to a friends birthday party in the Star Tavern, Belgravia last night, I arrived a bit early so a couple of pints of rather excellent Fullers ESB found their way down my throat before I went upstairs for the cheese and wine. Far too much seriously good red wine was consumed and I suspect that a half kilo or so of excellent Stilton may have contributed to a dodgy stomach... Missing the final connection from Maidenhead to home meant I needed a taxi and waiting in the Greyhound where there was a pint of Butcombe "Old Vic" to keep me company (as well as my Mrs and a couple of friends) seemed a good plan, but maybe the Ringwood "Old Thumper" was an unnecessary way to finish off... Whatever it was that did the damage, the idea of facing a pint of anything now is really none too appealing

Happy brewing,


Ian.

[Ditch]

Jesus christ, Ian! They don't call that shit " Thumper " for nothing!

[timbo41]

Just a thought ditch..don't throw the trugs just yet. Lightly oil outside of fv, stick in trug, fill remaining trug space with builders expanding foam. Shouldn't take much. Let harden,and clean excess off. Cut bit the kingspan you've got as an insulating lid..oil should have prevented foam sticking to fv. Presto! Instant insulated box. Yes another drain on wallet but should lower heating costs over time

This sort of stuff
http://www.polycell.co.uk/products/poly ... yfilla.jsp

[Ditch]

Was never gonna sling the trugs, Timbo. Far too many uses for such things, out here.

No, I was just disappointed and very frustrated. Because I'd had these people dig, dig, digging away at me all this time. 'Trugs. Trugs. Trugs! You'll love it, Ditch. No more sanitising heaters.'

And look what I got: Trug full of disgusting, slimy water. Beer that failed to ferment. Heaters that Never switched off! Cost me a f**king fortune in Karpackie as I struggled to sort the heaters out and find how everyone else managed it. Weeks of utter misery.

Anyway, I've near done it now. Sanitised two heaters and put them in the FV's. Off they went, like rockets. I'll be amongst the first one tomorrow. Thinking about it? Better knock up my last kit, tonight. I have the third heater available. Then order another load in.

Meanwhile, as I drink the first FV, I'll put its heater in a spare FV of water and try to get the setting fine tuned. Hitting 26 or 7 yet! Bit hectic, even for Coopers. I want them back to a nice, sedate 22 or 3.

[WalesAles]

And You may Ask yourself, my god, what have I done?!
Ditch, Does this apply to your Trugs?
Copied from Nov 9th 2012
WA

[Ditch]

Certainly applied to this last few weeks of utter misery, mate. Yes!

Just thinking; I'd better sneak a sip of this new lot before I go to town. Be great if I came back. Tasted it. Slung the f**king lot and had to head straight back into town for More damn Karpackie!

[WalesAles]

Hello

[Ditch]

Ah! Sorry, Wales. Yes. I had to re read my own post there, to catch what you were on about.

Yeah. Great! Sat here, getting quietly slaughtered, even as ye read this! And I have a totally 'Brained' stout just sliding back into the bucket too. That being the one with the properly set heater IN the FV. My normal way.

Yeppers. I'm wresting things back to normal here. Only thing I am noticing is the throat cutting coldness of the gear I'm bringing out of that room now. It's like the problem with the pub bought Guinness. So f**king cold, it goes down like razor blades!

I wonder if I can ever devise some, cost effective way of warming up the stuff I'm drinking?

Stove's lit and it's 61.3 F and rising, in here. In there? Barely 5 f**king C! F**k me, if I was into this shit, I'd be drinking Fosters!

[tazzymutt]

Good to read that you are back on the one true way Ditch... That'll teach you not to stray again

I had a second test pint from the stout barrel last night. I know you said this stuff changes from day to day Ditch, but until I tried it I would not have believed how much it could change in a week. The sweetness has now disappeared completely with more malt and coffee overtones coming through. it is still far less bitter than Guinness and has a complexity of flavour that the aforementioned output from a chemical factory does not get close to. This is turning out better than I dared hope.

The only slight concern I have is that, although the barrel was very pressurised when it first went out to the beer store, it now seems to have lost all, or nearly all, of its pressure. There is still a good head on the brew (lasted all the way to the bottom) and I had no problem getting it out (no glugging back through the tap) but I was a little surprised that it did not try to give me a beer shower when I opened the tap. Is this just a consequence of the CO2 absorbing back into the brew at the lower temperature? Or is there something else going on?

Happy brewing,


Ian.

[Ditch]

Well, it sounds like you've got the hang of there then, Ian. Nice drop of gear, when it's done half right, isn't it? Bit like some mythical mothers special cake, in a glass

Regards the CO levels in ye keg? Obviously, I couldn't say, myself. I don't prime or use gas in any way, shape or form. But, if it's working? Fine.

When I still used kegs (I now rather see them as a great and tedious addition to my work load. For no discernible benefit) I'd became a dab hand at flicking that lid open. Now I have my syphoning down to a fine ~ and labour saving ~ art.

I'm a real martyr to the cause here, ye know? Went to order three 'Ingredients Packs' for this stuff, and the three Old Ale ones (Respectful nod to my iron retention) Buggers only had One last stout kit in the place!

Bit bloody rich, isn't it? I put Don Draper to shame. Now I can't even get my hands on the f**king stuff myself! Every bugger else is buying it out from under me!

[Caddarn]

I've had a Ditch's in the fermentor for 2 weeks now and as I don't have a keg/barrel I'll be bottling... sacrilege I know but needs must! However, kit destructions say 8g of sugar per litre which sounds very excessive to me. I was thinking more along the lines of 5g per litre at most, has anyone else bottled it and if so how much sugar did you use to prime?

[Ditch]

As I don't have a keg/barrel I'll be bottling... sacrilege I know but needs must!

I'll give you 'Needs Must'! Have ye read nothing? Just stick the syphon tube ye intend to use for bottling into the FV. Set the FV up off the floor. As long as ye have one of those dinky little taps on the end of the tube? Job's a good'n!

I don't even bother to keg my stuff, nowadays. Let alone f**k about priming it. All the money I've spent on BK's; Could have spent it on fish tank heaters

Honestly; If you could swing by here tomorrow, I'd sling ye a BK or two, just to save myself the space. I'd even bung in a trug